Black Ops series

For other uses of the phrase, see Black Ops.

For the timeline, see Portal:Timeline/BO.

"In the first game, man corrupts man. In the second, man corrupts machine. Now in the third, machine corrupts man."

— Director Jason Blundell

Black Ops is a sub-series of the Call of Duty franchise from Activision and developed by Treyarch. Black Ops currently consists of eight main games and five spin-offs.

Main Games[]

Spin-offs[]

Plot[]

Call of Duty: World at War[]

Main article: Call of Duty: World at War

On August 17, 1942, Marine Private C. Miller watches the torture, beating, and execution of two fellow Marines by Japanese soldiers. Before he is assaulted, a Marine squad led by Corporal Roebuck and Sergeant Sullivan rescue him as part of their assault on the island.

On September 17, 1942, during the Siege of Stalingrad, Private Dimitri Petrenko regains consciousness in a blood and body-filled fountain, just as German Troops execute his surviving comrades. When the Germans leave, Dimitri meets the injured Sergeant Viktor Reznov, another survivor, who tells him of his intention: a secret mission to kill a German General named Heinrich Amsel. Dimitri follows Reznov through buildings and streets of Stalingrad, taking sniper shots with Reznov's Mosin-Nagant since Reznov has lost his trigger finger. They eventually meet up with the remainder of Dimitri's unit and assault the General communication post. During the assault, Dimitri manages to kill Amsel.

Two years later at the beginning of the Battle of Peleliu, Miller and his squad land on the beach and fight their way inland. They take heavy casualties, one of which is Sergeant Tom Sullivan. With Roebuck now in command, they fight further inland, eventually taking the airfield on the island. The Americans push further inland. Miller and his unit take out enemy Mortar Crews, so their tanks can go inland. They then proceed through the Japanese underground tunnels to attack the Artillery-Filled Point. The Island of Peleliu finally falls into American hands

In 1945, during the Battle of the Seelow Heights, Dimitri again regains consciousness, this time in a house occupied by German soldiers. He is saved when the house is blown open by a tank. After he is reunited with Reznov, The Red Army advances through German lines until they reach a German camp, which they then proceed to take. Dimitri and Reznov pilot T-34 tanks, pushing through German lines. Upon reaching Berlin, they engage German soldiers on the outskirts of the city and advance through the streets, killing every German soldier along the way. They head into the U-Bahn and start fighting German soldiers in the subway, until a surge of water fills the tunnel and Dimitri, unable to avoid the oncoming tidal wave, almost drowns.

During the Battle of Okinawa, where the player becomes Petty Officer Locke in a PBY Catalina flying boat, which takes part in a raid on three merchant ships. The US fleet is assaulted. Locke's PBY, which is the only PBY near enough to come to immediate aid, arrives. They are able to rescue American sailors in the sea. With the PBY almost completely destroyed, more US aircraft arrive. Miller's squad makes a ground assault on Okinawa. They clear out the Japanese from machine gun bunkers, allowing American tanks to progress. With the battle almost won, the Americans storm Shuri Castle. Having cleared the entrance, they reach the center of the castle. Once there, they encounter Japanese soldiers surrendering. However, when Roebuck and Polonsky go to search them, they reveal concealed grenades under their clothes. After saving either Roebuck or Polonsky, American troops arrive to assist the squad and engage the remaining Japanese soldiers in a battle in the castle center. The Marines take the castle, crushing the last bastion of Japanese resistance in the Pacific War.

Reznov drags Dimitri out of the U-Bahn to regroup with Soviet infantry. The Red Army then advances towards the Reichstag. During the assault at the Reichstag's entrance, Chernov is badly burned by a German flamethrower. Reznov, Dimitri, and the remaining Soviet soldiers enter the Reichstag and clear it of its German defenders, and reach the rooftop. Before he can replace the Nazi flag, Dimitri is shot by a dying German soldier, whom Reznov kills with a machete shortly after. Although wounded, Dimitri manages to plant the Soviet flag, signaling Soviet victory, ending the war.

Call of Duty: Black Ops[]

Main article: Call of Duty: Black Ops

Much of the Call of Duty: Black Ops campaign is told through the eyes of SOG and CIA operative Alex Mason, primarily through flashbacks. Mason is asked questions by an unknown interrogator about a numbers broadcast which is being used to contact Soviet sleeper cells within the United States. These questions set the stage for the campaign missions.

The first mission is a flashback to Mason's participation in the Bay of Pigs Invasion, a doomed effort to assassinate Fidel Castro. At the end of this mission, Mason is captured by Castro's soldiers and given to Nikita Dragovich, as as a 'gift.' He is held captive at the Vorkuta Gulag, a Russian labor camp, for two years.

After further interrogation, Mason recounts how, during his imprisonment at Vorkuta, he befriended Viktor Reznov, a former Red Army soldier and a returning character from Call of Duty: World at War. Reznov assists Mason in sparking a prisoner uprising at Vorkuta, which facilitates Mason's escape from the prison.

One month after his escape, Mason is escorted to the Pentagon with his handler, Jason Hudson, where he receives authorization from President John F. Kennedy to assassinate Dragovich. He is then dispatched with Frank Woods and Joseph Bowman to Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh SSR to sabotage the Soviet space program. The team saves a captured operative, Grigori Weaver and destroys the Soyuz 2 as it is launched. Dragovich, who is present at the launch, escapes alive, forcing Mason to spend the next five years searching for him.

By 1968, the SOG, including Mason, is deployed in Vietnam to investigate the Soviet presence. After Mason helps defend the military camp at Khe Sanh, he is deployed to Huế during the Tet Offensive to recover a dossier with information on Dragovich from an unnamed defector. The team recovers the dossier, and Mason discovers that Reznov is the defector.

After Mason escapes Huế City, the campaign shifts to a mission in Kowloon, Hong Kong, where Hudson is sent to find and interrogate Dr. Clarke, a scientist working under Dragovich. The mission goes awry, and Clarke is killed while Hudson seeks to escape Dragovich's men.

Then, after further interrogation, Mason reveals the story, as told to him by Reznov, of the history behind Dragovich, his associate, Lev Kravchenko, and German ally, Dr. Friedrich Steiner. These events take place shortly after World War II, and are told through the eyes of Viktor Reznov. They detail Dragovich's discovery of the German chemical weapon, Nova 6, and illustrate his ruthlessness as he murders his own soldiers to witness the effects of the weapon, including Reznov's close friend, Dimitri Petrenko. This mission ends with Reznov asking Mason to promise him that Petrenko's death will be avenged, and Dragovich, along with his allies, Kravchenko and Steiner, will be killed.

The interrogation moves back to 1968, and Mason describes how he and the rest of his squad from the SOG fight their way through Viet Cong-controlled territory in an ultimately futile attempt to chase an elusive Kravchenko, and are later sent to locate and investigate a downed Soviet plane containing Nova 6. During this investigation, Mason, Woods, and Bowman are captured by the Viet Cong.

Again, the perspective switches to Agent Hudson, who is sent on a mission to infiltrate a Soviet base in the Ural Mountains, a suspected development center of Nova 6. The control room the facility is rigged with explosives in a trap set by Dragovich, but Hudson's team is contacted remotely by Dr. Steiner, who gives his location and promises, in exchange for safety from Dragovich's systematic elimination of "loose ends," information on cracking the numbers broadcast.

After this mission is completed, Mason describes to his interrogator how Bowman was killed while imprisoned, and how he and Woods escape from their Viet Cong captors. Mason fights across a vast swath of Vietnamese land in a stolen Mi-24 Hind to reach Kravchenko's base. At this base, Mason again meets Reznov, who leads him through the base towards Kravchenko. When Mason reaches Kravchenko, Kravchenko commits suicide with his bandolier of grenades, seemingly killing Woods in the process. Mason and Reznov then recover documents that lead them to Rebirth Island.

Mason's story converges with Hudson's at Rebirth Island, as both fight their way through a Soviet Nova 6 research and production facility to reach Dr. Steiner. Hudson engages in an all-out assault on the facility with light armor and a squad of CIA operatives, while Mason sneaks into the facility with Reznov. Mason reaches Steiner only shortly before Hudson, and watches as Reznov murders Steiner.

However, when the same story is retold through Hudson's eyes, it is revealed that it was, in fact, Mason alone who shot Steiner, while exclaiming that he was Reznov and would have revenge. The flashbacks end and the interrogation continues. Hudson reveals himself to be the interrogator and confronts Mason face-to-face in a desperate bid to break him free of his brainwashing. In this mission, it is revealed that, while at Vorkuta, Mason was subjected to severe mental reconditioning in order to turn him into a sleeper cell who would perform Soviet missions in America. However, Reznov 'hijacked' this conditioning and used it to instill in Mason an absolute devotion to complete Reznov's vow for revenge. Reznov was actually killed in the escape from Vorkuta, and, therefore, all subsequent appearances of his character are merely a part of Mason's imagination, brought on by the intense nature of the brainwashing Mason experienced.

As the reprogramming of Mason's brain is finally broken, Mason recalls the origin of the numbers broadcast, a ship off the shore of Cuba called the Rusalka. In a CIA raid on the ship and the underwater broadcast station over which it is anchored, Mason kills Dragovich and sinks the broadcast station, ending the threat that the sleeper agents presented to the United States.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II[]

Main article: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

In the year 2025, U.S. Special Forces operatives led by David Mason and his partner, Mike Harper, arrive at "the Vault", a top-security location home to an aging Frank Woods, whom they suspect possess vital information on the whereabouts of Raul Menendez. Woods concedes that Menendez has recently visited him, and shows them a locket that the latter had left behind. Frank then narrates several covert missions undertaken during his military career which span their previous encounters.

According to Woods, by 1986 Alex Mason had effectively retired from active duty to pursue an obscure existence in Alaska with his son, the seven-year-old David. Their shaky relationship is strained further when Mason is solicited by his former handler Jason Hudson, seeking to recruit him for an assignment in Cuando Cubango during the height of the Angolan civil and South African Border Wars. Woods had disappeared with his men while aiding Jonas Savimbi's UNITA rebels against Angola's Marxist government; their actions have already been disavowed by the CIA and Hudson hopes to rescue any survivors. With UNITA assistance, Mason and Hudson recover Woods from the Cubango, subsequently locating Menendez among a contingent of Cuban military advisers. However, a firefight breaks out, and their quarry escapes as the Americans are rescued by helicopter. It is revealed that Menendez is responsible for holding Woods captive after murdering his team.

In light of this information, Mason and Hudson begin tracking Menendez, who has established himself as a primary arms dealer for bush conflicts in Southern Africa and Latin America. Later in the year, the CIA authorizes a strike against the unscrupulous Nicaraguan, now making a healthy profit running arms across Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. At this point, Menendez's motive for his seemingly senseless vendetta against the West become clear: his beloved sister was grievously injured in an act of arson committed by American businessmen for insurance money. The Menendez clan, which dominates a powerful drug cartel, was again rocked by loss when the CIA sanctions the assassination of Raul's father. An embittered Menendez now considers the conflict to be personal, but his one-man struggle against the West is interrupted when Mason, Woods, Hudson, and local security forces raid his headquarters in Nicaragua; an enraged Woods inadvertently kills Raul's sister, Josefina with a grenade.

Faking his demise with the assistance of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, Menendez lives to retaliate against those he holds personally responsible for his sister's death. During the 1989 invasion of Panama, he kidnaps Hudson and David, using them as bait for a trap. He then uses Hudson to mislead Woods, manipulating him into shooting Mason instead of himself. Depending on the player's actions in Afghanistan, it is implied that Menendez had used moles within the CIA. In the ensuing chaos, Menendez kills Hudson and cripples Woods. Unsatisfied with his revenge, Menendez allows Woods and David to live, promising to return to complete his revenge when the time is right.

Three decades later, Menendez re-emerges as the leader of Cordis Die, a massive populist movement with over a billion followers. He stages a cyberattack that cripples the Chinese Stock Exchange; in response, the Chinese ban the export of rare earth elements, fermenting the start of a new Cold War between the Chinese-led Strategic Defense Coalition (SDC) and the U.S.-led JSOC. Taking advantage of this stand-off, Menendez attempts to bring the two powers to a full-blown war by inciting conflicts between the two, secretly aiding SDC leader Chairman Tian Zhao, who worked with Mason and Woods during their operation in Afghanistan in 1986. Using the intelligence provided by Woods, David, now a Navy SEAL Commander code-named Section, leads JSOC forces in the renewed search for Menendez.

Shortly after gathering intelligence from Woods, Section and JSOC infiltrates Myanmar investigating a spike in activity in the region. There, Section's team encounters a computer engineer under Menendez's employment, warning them of a cyberattack with a Celerium device, a quantum computer capable of hacking any computer system. Section's team is later deployed in Pakistan, attempting to gather intelligence on Menendez's plots. During the infiltration, Menendez discloses the name of a target, "Karma" in the Cayman Islands. Section and SEAL operatives Harper and Salazar later infiltrate the Cayman Islands, finding out that "Karma" is a woman named Chloe Lynch, a former employee of Menendez's shell corporation, Tacitus. Lynch was the main developer of the Celerium device, and as a means of wrapping up loose ends, Menendez had deployed mercenaries for her abduction.

JSOC later has a lead on Menendez in Yemen, where JSOC asset Farid infiltrates Menendez's cell to help Section facilitate the leader's capture. The player, as Farid, has a choice during the mission. Menendez, suspecting Farid's disloyalty, orders him to shoot the captured Harper. If the player chooses not to shoot Harper, and instead attempts to shoot Menendez, he fails, but Harper survives and is rescued. If the player chooses to shoot Harper, Farid survives, and Harper is not present in any conversations or missions thereafter. Menendez is successfully captured, but this was a ruse for Menendez to hack into the U.S. military's computer infrastructure on the aircraft carrier the U.S.S. Obama, seizing control of the United States' entire drone fleet. Salazar is revealed to be Menendez's mole within JSOC, and facilitates Menendez's attack—Menendez escapes with Salazar's aid, and when Menendez breaks in to the bridge of the Obama, Salazar shoots the soldiers guarding Admiral Briggs, with Lynch's survival dependent on Farid's survival in the previous mission. The player, playing as Menendez, has the choice of either killing or wounding Admiral Briggs. If the player only wounds Briggs, and the player has completed all of the Strike Force missions, JSOC and SDC enter an alliance, then the player is later informed that the SDC sent hundreds of drones to defend the Obama, and consequently Briggs was able to save the ship and its crew. Menendez uses the drones to stage an attack on Los Angeles during a meeting of G20 leaders, hoping to kill them and cause catastrophic damage to the global economy. Section escorts U.S. President Bosworth to safety amidst the drone attacks.

JSOC eventually finds the source of the transmissions responsible for the hacking to Haiti, where Section leads JSOC forces into recapturing the facility in the final mission, and apprehending or killing Menendez. There are different endings depending on the actions the player takes throughout the campaign, such as whether or not the United States and China are able to enter an alliance with each other, as well as determining the fates of certain individuals in the game.

During the main campaign, the player may choose to participate in optional Strike Missions. The Strike Missions involve JSOC attempting to curb the SDC's global influence by preventing them from forcing neighboring countries into the alliance. Section himself does not participate in these missions directly, though he can command the forces remotely from a command center. If the missions are completed successfully, the SDC is weakened enough to ally with JSOC, and assists the player later in the campaign, for example, in sending its own drones to rescue the U.S.S. Obama.

Endings[]

The storyline of Call of Duty: Black Ops II has several endings, depending on which conditions the player fulfills over the course of the game. Since the game's release, a canon ending has been established.

If the player spares Menendez's life, completes all four Strike Force Missions, and both Chloe Lynch and Alex Mason survive the events of the game, the "best" ending will result. The player will have secured an alliance between China and the United States, ending the Second Cold War, Chloe's survival prevents Menendez's cyberattack from succeeding, and Mason's survival allows him to visit Frank Woods in retirement, reuniting with Section. The final scene shows Menendez in prison, watching a talk show with Jimmy Kimmel interviewing Chloe, getting enraged when Chloe Lynch insults him during the interview.

If Menendez is spared and Chloe survives, but Mason is killed in action, the Second Cold War will end and Menendez's cyberattack will fail, but Section will visit his father's grave with Woods and decides to retire from soldiering; Woods comments that his father would approve of the decision.

If Menendez is spared, Chloe is killed and Mason's fate is unresolved, Section will apprehend Menendez and take him into custody. The cyberattack will succeed, allowing Menendez to escape. He kills Woods in the retirement home before visiting his sister's grave, dousing himself in gasoline, and readying a lit match.

If Menendez is killed, Chloe's fate is unresolved and Mason is killed, Section will visit his father's grave. Menendez's followers will riot when they learn of his assassination from a video Menendez programmed to post in that event, ending with a cut of the White House burning.

If Menendez is killed, Chloe's fate is unresolved and Mason lives, Section will kill Menendez before reuniting with his father at the retirement home, and Menendez's followers will riot as above.

The canon ending is the one where Menendez is killed, Chloe is killed and Mason is killed. In this scenario, Menendez's Cordis Die followers will riot in a worldwide event when they learn of his assassination from a video Menendez programmed himself to post in that event, which is aided by a Celerium cyberattack that targets worldwide defense infrastructures, and leaves its future uncertain. In addition to this scenario, Section will visit his father's grave with Woods, officially announcing his retirement from duty.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III[]

Main article: Call of Duty: Black Ops III

On October 27, 2065, the game begins with the Player and their new CO, Jacob Hendricks, infiltrating an NRC Airbase in Ethiopia to rescue Egyptian Prime Minister Said from the NRC with the assistance of John Taylor and his team of cybernetically enhanced soldiers part of the Winslow Accord Black Cyber-Ops Division. Needing to distract the NRC, the Player and Hendricks, along with Winslow Accord Special Forces Team Alpha, use the base's D.E.A.D system to shoot down an NRC plane. Disguised as NRC soldiers, the Player and Hendricks manage to infiltrate the base and rescue Said from the NRC, although they discover there are more prisoners than their Intel provided. The team soon become compromised after Said convinces them to rescue Lt. Khalil, an Egyptian Army veteran and war hero who the NRC plan to use as a tool in their campaign against the Egyptian people. They soon rendezvous with Taylor's Team after being cornered by NRC forces and proceed to escape the base, managing to procure an enemy APC. Before leaving, Hendricks convinces Taylor to rescue the other hostages after reminding that some part of him must still be human. While their escape is successful, the Player and Team Alpha are left behind after their evac harrier sustains heavy fire and bugs out to avoid being shot down, although Hendricks demands that they go back. The Player and Team Alpha are eventually overrun by enemy forces and the members of Team Alpha are killed and the Player is viciously attacked by an NRC Grunt, ripping both the Player's arms off and breaking their right leg until they are found and rescued by Taylor.

Believing that it's the Player's best chance for survival, Taylor brings them to a research installation that specializes in the advanced cybernetic enhancements that Taylor and his team use and decides to use the same cybernetics in order to save the Player's life. The Player is later awakened onboard a train by Taylor, who reveals that the Player had survived the mission but had sustained life threatening injuries in the field. The Player soon learns that the train they're standing in is a simulation created within their DNIs. Revealing that the Player was given one and is currently in a medically induced coma, Taylor explains that their DNI's allows them to communicate with each other on a subconscious level and tells the Player that they have a long way to go. Taylor then introduces them to his unit, which consists of cyber operatives Sebastian Diaz, Sarah Hall, and Peter Maretti during a series of simulations of past battles that were connected with a terrorist attack on a Coalescence train inside the Player's own mind.

Each operative assists the Player in putting the pieces together on how to use their new cybernetics in combat while also helping themselves progress through the simulated terrorist act. Although the Player proves themselves as an efficient soldier, the Player suffers a minor setback when they comes across a group of simulated grunts, causing the simulation to briefly destabilize until they are calmed down by Diaz, who reveals that their DNI can cause certain traumatic memories to seem realistic and can have damaging long term effects if not treated. The Player eventually reaches the final stage of the simulated train bombing and manages to reach the bomb, but is unable to defuse it in time even with their DNI. The Player remains unsure of what to do until they are helped by Taylor, who tells the Player that the solution is actually quite simple. Figuring out that the train car carrying the bomb can be detached from the rest of the train using their DNI, the Player sacrifices themselves by detaching the train car while still inside and the bomb detonates, ending the simulation. Taylor then informs the Player that there was really no way to stop the train despite all the Player's new abilities, telling them that although their DNI can show them all the answers, it'll be be up to them to choose what they have to sacrifice and that sometimes they must let go. The Player is then awoken in the real world and is informed by Taylor that they are being prepped for surgery. Although Hendricks wasn't injured on the mission, he volunteers for the cybernetic surgery as well and both he and the Player are recruited into Taylor's unit.

In 2070, the Player and Hendricks, who are now close friends, are recruited by CIA agent Rachel Kane to investigate the CIA Black Station in Singapore that lost communications. On route they encounter foot soldiers for the ruthless criminal organization the 54 Immortals, who have access to military grade weaponry. Needing to fight through the 54i forces to reach their objective, the operatives are temporarily pinned down by a heavily armoured man of war "Warlord" cyborg before they are rescued by Kane, who then joins Hendricks and the Player in reaching the safe house. Upon arrival, the team discovers the CIA Black Station staff brutally murdered in the ritual "Denial of Reincarnation" and the data drives gone. While they initially believe that 54i enforcer Jae Xiong is responsible for the murders, Kane goes through the entry logs for the safe house and discovers that Taylor's team were the last ones there before arriving. Both Hendricks and the Player are initially unconvinced of Kane's theory about Taylor, having served with him for the past five years.

In order to learn the truth about what happened, the Player and Hendricks then lead an assault on the 54 Immortal's headquarters in the Bio Domes to recover the data drives by posing as arms dealers, making contact with 54i drug dealer Danny Li at a teahouse owned by the 54i. While Hendricks attempts to learn the whereabouts of Jae Xiong, Li states that nobody has seen him in years. After managing to convince Li to work with them, the pair are compromised by 54i leaders and siblings Goh Min And Goh Xiulan, who quickly deduce that the arms dealer are actually members of the Winslow Accord. Greatly out numbered, Hendricks orders Kane to active friendly Grunt reinforcements, killing both Goh Min and Li and forcing Goh Xiulan to flee. After fighting their way to the 54i headquarters, the Player and Hendricks catch Goh Xiulan attempting to decrypt the drives, with Hendricks knocking her out. They then attempt to pull the information out of the drives, but are locked out due to a DNA security system that only allows the Goh siblings to access the console. With Goh Min dead, the Players severs Goh Xiulan's right hand in order to access the console, an act which clearly bothers Hendricks. After obtaining the information from the drives, the pair then escape with Hendricks claiming that what he saw was bullshit, confirming that Taylor and his team have indeed gone rogue.

To understand Taylor's sudden betrayal, the team then use the Intel they retrieved to investigate the site of Taylor's last op, an abandoned Coalescence Corporation facility in Singapore that led to the deaths of 300,000 people. Within the facility, Hendricks and the Player are both attacked by seemingly inactive Grunts, displaying odd, human like behavior. They discover that the facility was actually a cover for a CIA black project named Project Corvus and later find the decayed corpse's of Jae Xiong and several other test subjects, learning that the CIA were performing DNI experiments on them against their will. They soon learn that Diaz himself is nearby and has hooked himself up to the facility's central CPU core, controlling the Grunts and uploading CIA safe house locations to multiple sources worldwide. Needing to stop the Intel leaks, Kane orders Hendricks and the Player to stop him. While they manage to stop Diaz, the intel was unfortunately sent, revealing every CIA safe house location worldwide. Needing to understand Taylor's motives, Kane orders a reluctant Hendricks to interface with Diaz's DNI, killing the rogue soldier in the process. The team learns that Taylor's squad is currently hunting the two sole survivors of the Project: Dr. Yousef Salim, who is residing in Cairo, and Sebastion Krueger, who's current whereabouts are unknown. They soon become compromised by 54i forces, who were tipped off by the information Diaz sent them before dying. Goh Xiulan, now with a bionic hand, orders her lieutenant to trigger explosives throughout the facility, causing it to flood. While Hendricks and the Player manage to escape the facility, Kane orders them to leave Singapore to avoid being executed by the 54i after her position was compromised by the data leaks.

Knowing that Kane will have no chance of survival if she stays, the Player refuses to abandon her and convinces Hendricks to help rescue Kane from 54i forces, who are currently invading Singapore in vengeful retaliation for Goh Min's death. On route to the safe house Taylor contacts them and claims that he’s told the truth and that the 54i’s wrath upon the citizens of Singapore is righteous. He admits to revealing information to them as well as giving them access to the CIA comm channel protocols. Taylor also mentions that he is doing this to find the Frozen Forest, to which leaves both Hendricks and the Player confused. After reaching the besieged safe house, an explosion knocks back the two operatives, engulfing the building in flames. While Hendricks believes that explosion killed Kane, the Player refuses to give up and attempts to rescue her, but is suddenly attacked by Goh Xiulan in an attempt to avenge her brother, but is ultimately killed by the Player when he/she burns her skull in a bare pipe flare. Walking out of the burning building with a wounded Kane, the Player chastises Hendricks for giving up on Kane. Hendricks mumbles sheepishly "You've got a lot of blood on you."

After escaping Singapore, the team then heads to Egypt to interrogate Dr. Yousef Salim, who had been apprehended by Lt. Khalil's forces. Hendricks, who is on edge, interrogates Salim, telling him that Taylor and his team will kill him unless he reveals what he knows about the project and the Frozen Forest, wanting to know why the rogue unit is obsessed with it. Salim admits that he had worked on the secret project involving illegal DNI experiments on humans, and that his job was to comfort the emotionally unstable test subjects, using the fictional Frozen Forest as a way to keep the subjects calm. Becoming more aggressive, Hendricks violently demands why Taylor and his team are obsessed with the Frozen Forest, but is interrupted by a sudden explosion. Learning that the NRC are attacking, the team assists Khalil and his forces in repelling the attack. Using the assault as a way to distract the team, Taylor and his squad then capture Dr. Salim, although the Player is able to track them using a small tracking chip they had slipped to Salim earlier. Angered over not knowing about the tracker, Hendricks punches the Player hard across the face, accusing them of keeping secrets from him along with Kane. The Player then explains that something is clearly wrong with Hendricks since leaving Singapore, and that they made the call to not tell Hendricks about the tracker. Feeling remorse against striking his friend, Hendricks helps the Player back up, admitting that he shouldn't have taken his feelings about the mission out on the Player, but tells them that everything about it feels wrong.

Elsewhere, Taylor's team interrogates Salim about the location of the Frozen Forest, and then execute him right after Taylor orders Hall to ambush the Egyptian army using a Manticore Mech Suit, needing time to complete his interrogation and escape. While Hall proves to be a challenge against the Player and Hendricks, she is ultimately defeated. Needing to know more behind Taylor's motives, the Player decides to interface with Hall's DNI against her and Hendricks's objections. The Player is surprised to find that Hall's mind is heavily defended in an attempt to find out what she hiding. After fighting through digital defenses of Halls mind and destroying what remains of her subconscious, the Player discovers the presence of an AI virus named Corvus, who had corrupted Taylor and his team during their mission in Singapore, having integrated itself into the DNI's of Taylor's team and slowly taking over their cybernetics, being able to control their actions against their will. After disconnecting with Hall's DNI, the Player tells Kane about the AI and the location of Taylor and Maretti, who have taken refuge on an aquifer controlled by the NRC.

With help from Khalil and the Egyptian army, the Player, Hendricks, and Kane launch an assault on the aquifer in an attempt to capture Taylor and Maretti. During the assault, the Player's cybernetic systems suddenly shut down until they are awakened by Kane, who reveals that Corvus can also infect anyone who interfaces with it, meaning that both Hendricks and the Player are infected as they had interfaced with Diaz and Hall. Continuing the attack, the team decides to lock down the facility in order to trap the rogue soldiers. While they manage to seal Maretti inside, Taylor makes it out and flees on a NRC harrier. During their pursuit of Maretti, the Player and Hendricks continue to experience complication in their cybernetics as Corvus is slowly taking control of them. While the Player manages to fight off Corvus's influence, Hendricks begins to take his frustrations out on the Player, accusing them of losing perspective and even going so far as to threaten to kill Kane, believing that she is somehow behind this until he is struck down by the Player. Telling Hendricks that nobody will be able to help them once Corvus takes control, the Player reminds him of their friendship and that they will need each other more than ever if they are going to fight off Corvus. Managing to bring Hendricks back to his senses, the pair then find and confront Maretti, who attempts to kill them with a sniper rifle but is ultimately killed by the Player when the later kicks him out a window onto a pile of debris, impaling him.

The team then learns that Taylor had made a deal with the NRC in exchange for protection and is currently in Lotus Towers, an NRC stronghold in the city of Cairo. The team then make an attempt to capture Taylor, killing the NRC General Abasi Hakim as a way to start a city wide revolution that'll divert the NRC's attention. As they make their way towards Taylor, the Player and Hendricks continue to suffer malfunctions in their cybernetics, experiencing constant system failures and hallucinations as well as hearing Corvus's voice. While the Player is still able to fight of the AI's influence, Hendricks, who had been infected since Singapore, becomes more aggressive and violent towards his own allies, stating that they are fighting a losing battle and that they will make no difference whether they win or lose. After managing to reach Taylor's location, Henricks and the Player attempt to reason with their old leader, who is in a catatonic state. Claiming that he will take them all home, Taylor takes control of the NRC grunts throughout the city, attacking everyone on site including the NRC soldiers. While chasing Taylor, Khalil contacts them and tells them that he is greatly outnumbered by the NRC before his communication cuts out, with Kane confirming that enemy forces captured Khalil. While the Player initially request that they save Khalil, Kane reminds them that Taylor is the priority but promises that they will do what they can once this is over.

After managing to catch up to Taylor, the pair is soon confronted by an army of grunts, with Hendricks staying behind to hold them off while the Player continues to pursue Taylor to the top of Lotus Towers. The Player then fights Taylor, who has commandeered an enemy Mothership. While the Player manages to take down the Mothership, their cybernetic arm is pinned by the ship's debris, partially shutting down other systems, which renders them defenseless. Taylor, who survived the crash unscathed, pulls out a combat knife with the intent of murdering the Player. After desperately trying to convince Taylor that he is not himself, the Player manages to get through to him briefly as Taylor regains his senses and tears out his own DNI through his neck, effectively cutting off Corvus's influence over him. While the Player initially believes that it is over, Taylor reminds them that Corvus still resides in the DNI's of both the Player and Hendricks, making them loose ends. Although the wounded Taylor is no longer considered a threat, he is suddenly killed by Hendricks, who has finally succumbed to the virus and leaves the Player pinned, departing aboard another mothership to the Coalescence facility in Zurich, Switzerland in order to find Krueger.

Kane manages to extract the Player and brings them to the hospital, where the Player tells Kane that they need to stop Hendricks. Kane, not wanting to lose the Player, tries to convince them that they don't have to do this, stating that she can't go on if the Player chooses to go down this path. The Player, set on stopping Hendricks, tells Kane that this is who they are, with Kane leaving behind her bandana and telling the player not to forget her. Some time later, The Player and Kane, who had chosen to remain with the Player out of loyalty, head to Zurich to stop Hendricks. While they have the support of the ZSF, they are hampered on route when Hendricks hijacks the entire city's computer systems and robotic defenders. After fighting through several hacked robots, the Player and Kane manage to breach the Coalescence HQ, discovering that Coalescence has found and replicated the deadly nerve gas Nova 6, having laced the virus into the explosives that killed the 300,000 people in Singapore. Kane attempts to bypass security by initiating emergency protocols, but is tricked and killed by Corvus when it traps her in a room full of Nova 6. Before she dies, Kane warns the Player not to trust in their DNI, knowing that Corvus is nearly complete indoctrinating them. The Player continues on and confronts Hendricks, who is holding Sebastian Krueger hostage in an attempt to know what the Frozen Forest is. The Player makes a final attempt to reason with Hendricks, but is forced to kill him after he executes Krueger in order to prevent Corvus from spreading.

Being the only surviving host of the virus, the Player attempts to commit suicide to prevent them from being controlled by Corvus, but ends up inside a simulated world created within their own DNI. There, the Player is reunited with the digital reincarnations of their teammates, with Hendricks informing the Player that they have reached the Frozen Forest, a place where they can digitally live on after death as their minds have become a part of Corvus's hive mind. Seeing that their former allies have all given into Corvus's influence, the Player continues on until they encounter Corvus with a digital version of Krueger, who also had a DNI, and demands to know why it was created. Krueger argues that every bit of technology embraced by the public presented new ways for their enemies to compromise them, and the DNI was a way of monitoring the thoughts of everybody at once. Corvus was designed to catalogue them. After being told that it was nothing but a mistake, Corvus brutally murders Krueger and destroys what remained of his subconscious. The Player, shocked by what they witnessed, kneels down in despair until they encounter the digitally reincarnated Taylor, who claims that he was the only one to reject the AI's influence before dying which made what remained of his subconscious a virus in Corvus's system. Agreeing to help the Player fight Corvus, Taylor explains that the only way for the Player to defeat Corvus for good is to initiate a system purge in their DNI.

While the Player is still able to fight through Corvus's digital forces, their mental state becomes more and more fractured and they begin to chant Corvus's words, although Taylor's remains their voice of reason and tells them to keep pressing forward. After fighting their way through Corvus's illusory forces, the Player manages to regain control of their body and attempts to purge their DNI. Corvus makes a last ditch effort to control the Player, but is held off by Taylor, who tells the Player to keep fighting. The Player then purges their DNI, causing both Corvus and Taylor to disappear. As the Player stumbles out of the building where the controlled robotics were overrun by the ZSF, a soldier asks the Player to identify themself. As their system slowly completes the purge, the Player says "Taylor" before the screen dramatically fades to black, leaving the Player's non-reality fate unknown.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4[]

Main article: Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

Savannah and her sister Jessica Mason-Green at some point were born to David "Section" Mason, the son of Alex Mason. Wanting to change the world, Savannah decided to do it from a lab and ultimately became a C.I.A. operative and businesswoman, in which it made her the world's first trillionaire. Eventually, with her C.I.A clearance level, Savannah founded Project Blackout in a goal to bring back the dead in the form of Archetypes. Her only known successful subjects are her grandfather Alex Mason, Frank Woods (whom she started a relationship with), Viktor Reznov, Jason Hudson and Raul Menendez (who was given the position of overseeing the project).

In 2043, her actions ended up ruining her relationship with Jessica, who became disgusted in her actions, and while Menendez suggested terminating her, Savannah refused to kill her own sister. Eventually, the two sisters ended up fighting that resulted with Savannah accidentally shooting Jessica in the mouth, much to Savannah's horror. In order to cover up what she did, Savannah had the memories of her two companions, Ruin and Battery, altered into thinking that it was a botched mission that killed Jessica. Afterwards, Savannah ended up taking care of Jessica's daughter Lucy as her legal guardian, and the two would visit her grave together. She would also secretly have Woods brainwash Alex for an unknown purpose.

Two years later, during 2045, Savannah recruits ten of the world's most elite soldiers for Project Blackout to handle an unknown threat. She also used a Combat Immersion program to train the Specialists in a virtual simulation, with Woods acting as their instructor. Savannah becomes increasingly paranoid after Menendez learns that Jessica was still alive and conspiring against her, thus leading to her hand over the project's leadership to the revived Nicaraguan. Realizing that the Specialists are loose ends, Savannah had soldiers sent to kill them, unaware that they all survived and Lucy had joined Jessica. Feeling like she has won, she then established facilities all over the world to continue Project Blackout.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War[]

Main article: Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

In January 1981, CIA operatives Russell Adler, Alex Mason, and Frank Woods are sent to Amsterdam to target Qasim Javadi and Arash Kadivar for their roles in the Iran hostage crisis. With intelligence gained from interrogating Qasim, the trio tracks Arash to an airfield in Turkey, where they witness him executing everyone in the vehicle he arrived in. The team eliminates Arash's men and corners him; he gloats that the Soviet spy Perseus —who Adler believed to be dead—was the one responsible for organizing the hostage crisis before being executed. After being briefed of his threat by Adler and Jason Hudson , U.S. President Ronald Reagan authorizes a black operation team to neutralize Perseus.

Adler's team consists of MI6 intelligence officer Helen Park, CIA operative Lawrence Sims, and Mossad operative Eleazar "Lazar" Azoulay, with Mason and Woods providing tactical support. The final member of the team is an agent known only by the codename "Bell", who allegedly served with Adler and Sims in MACV-SOG during the Vietnam War. The team asks Bell to recall Operation Fracture Jaw in 1968, where Adler believes he, Bell, and Sims first encountered Perseus. Afterwards, the team proceeds to East Berlin to apprehend/kill Anton Volkov, a Russian mafia boss with ties to Perseus.

The team learns that Volkov helped Perseus smuggle a nuclear device through East Berlin; they also find encrypted coordinates to an unpopulated region within Ukraine. Bell and Woods are sent to these coordinates, where they infiltrate a secret Spetsnaz training facility and discover that Perseus has infiltrated "Operation Greenlight", a top-secret American program that planted neutron bombs in every major European city to deny their use to the Soviets in the event of an invasion. Intel retrieved from the Spetsnaz facility indicates that Perseus is excavating Nikita Dragovich's destroyed base in the Ural Mountains; Mason and Woods are deployed there to retrieve Dragovich's list of sleeper agents. However, the team finds out that Perseus has wiped the data from the base's mainframe, leaving their only option to infiltrate the Lubyanka Building to retrieve the list.

Enlisting the help of KGB double agent Dimitri Belikov, Adler and Bell manage to enter the Lubyanka Building. The team learns that an Operation Greenlight scientist is one of the sleeper agents and has fled to Cuba, where the team follows. They learn that Perseus has managed to steal the detonation codes for every Operation Greenlight bomb, meaning he can devastate Europe and lay the blame on the United States. The team comes under heavy fire and Lazar and Park are injured, leaving Bell only enough time to save one of them. After rescuing Bell, Adler continues to press them by provoking their memories of Vietnam once more. At this point, Bell's true identity is revealed as an agent of Perseus, having been shot by Arash in Turkey out of jealousy.

Adler found Bell and brainwashed them using Project MKUltra into believing they were his comrade. With Bell's memory returned, Adler interrogates them on the location of Perseus' headquarters. Bell can either choose to remain loyal to Perseus and lie to Adler, or choose to betray Perseus and reveal his location. Should Bell choose the former option, they will tell Adler to go to the Duga radar array, where he and his team will be too far away to stop Perseus from activating the nukes. Otherwise, Bell betrays Perseus and joins the CIA in their assault on Perseus' headquarters in the Solovetsky Islands, where they destroy the transmitters needed to send the detonation signal. Later, Adler takes Bell out for a private conversation, assuring them that their choice to turn against Perseus was of their own free will and that they are a hero, before eliminating them as they are a loose end for the CIA.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6[]

Main article: Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

In 1991, amidst the start of Operation Desert Storm, Troy Marshall and William "Case" Calderon, along with Jane Harrow, are deployed to the Iraq–Kuwait border to extract Iraqi minister of defence Saeed Alawi, but are forced to go off mission when Alawi claims to be targeted by a rogue paramilitary force called "Pantheon". After surviving an encounter with Pantheon forces, the team prepares to extract Alawi, but he is executed by an unaccounted Adler. Adler allows himself to be captured, telling Marshall to relay a message to Woods: "Bishop takes Rook". Afterwards, CIA Deputy Director Daniel Livingstone reprimands the team for Alawi's death, ignores their warnings about Pantheon, and suspends Woods, Marshall, and Case from duty.

Woods reveals to Marshall that Adler's message refers to an abandoned KGB safe house in Bulgaria—code-named "the Rook"—that the two discovered in 1976, and decides to go there with Marshall and Case to investigate Pantheon; Harrow stays behind to cover for their absence. After using Adler's files to recruit ex-Stasi technical genius Felix Neumann and assassin Sevati "Sev" Dumas, the team moves to break Adler out of a CIA black site hidden under Washington, D.C., while a political event hosted by Governor Bill Clinton takes place above ground. The team extracts Adler just as Pantheon assaults the black site, but they are blamed for the attack instead and are declared fugitives. Adler reveals that Pantheon has been engaging in weapons deals with Saddam Hussein; with the help of MI6 agent Helen Park and allied SAS forces, the team assaults one of Hussein's palaces in western Iraq, where they find "the Cradle", a psychochemical weapon that originated from an abandoned CIA biolab in Kentucky.

While Adler stays behind to track down Pantheon's head scientist, Matvey Gusev, Case, Marshall, and Sev investigate the biolab. Case accidentally inhales Cradle gas and hallucinates fighting off undead creatures while hearing a woman's voice, which explains that Pantheon was originally a secret CIA division overseeing Cradle's development as a performance-enhancing drug, with Case being the only test subject, before Livingstone shut down the project and disbanded Pantheon. When Case regains his senses, the team discovers that Pantheon has already stolen the biolab's stores of Cradle, and also find a recording revealing that Harrow is working with Pantheon. Using clues in the recording, the team steals financial records from a casino in the European principality of Avalon, which reveal that the casino had been wiring money to Gusev in Iraq. Afterwards, Case and Marshall reunite with Adler in Kuwait and work with his old ally, U.S. Army Captain Lawrence Sims, to capture Gusev, who reveals that the Cradle is being stored in Vorkuta.

The team raids Vorkuta, and while they are unable to stop the Cradle from being moved, they capture Harrow and bring her to the Rook for interrogation. Adler injects Harrow with a truth serum, prompting her to reveal that she joined Pantheon after they leaked information claiming that Adler killed her parents, and that Pantheon is planning to use the Cradle to carry out a false flag attack on the Capitol Building with the goal of discrediting Livingstone and replacing him with Harrow, putting them in control of the CIA. Pantheon forces assault the Rook and rescue Harrow; Case gives chase and boards Harrow's escape helicopter, causing it to crash in the river. Under the influence of released Cradle gas, Case strangles Harrow to death before presumably drowning. Marshall tries to radio Case, explaining that Livingstone managed to evacuate the Capitol. Two weeks later, the team meets with Livingstone, who asks them to continue working as an independent clandestine unit in order to eradicate Pantheon and its true leaders, who are conducting operations in Avalon. Meanwhile, Pantheon operative Jackson Caine infiltrates Livingstone's office and accesses his computer.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7[]

Main article: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7

Videos[]

Treyarch's Black Ops Timeline

Trivia[]

A game in the Black Ops series is referenced in the show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. In an episode, Sam and one of his brothers have a conversation about having played "C.O.D.", and that one was spawn killing the other constantly in "Black Ops". Since the episode was made in 2014, the scene took place a year before (2013) and at the time there were three games in the Black Ops series out, it is unknown whether they were referring to Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: Black Ops II or Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified.